Latest / The History of Belgium: A Small Country with a Giant Colonial Legacy — Fexingo History
The 1920 Boma Dockworkers' Strike: Congo's First Labor Uprising
In October 1920, dockworkers in Boma, the capital of the Belgian Congo, walked off the job in a strike that would echo through the colony's history. This episode unpacks the strike's causes — from the brutal corvée system and the hated chicotte whip to the postwar inflation that squeezed African wages. We follow the workers' demands, the colonial administration's response, and the strike's surprising aftermath, which included the first official labor inquiry and the creation of a government-run employment bureau. Along the way, we meet key figures like Governor…
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